


'Tis the Season

by A_Farnese



Series: Domestic Bliss [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Shopping, Friendship, M/M, Sensory Overload, modern merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 22:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5433566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Farnese/pseuds/A_Farnese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the most wonderful time of the year, until Merlin reaches his limit when it comes to Christmas shopping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Tis the Season

**Author's Note:**

> Merlin and its characters are not mine. No money is being made from this.

“What about this one?”

Merlin did an admirable job of not heaving a massive, irritated sigh at Arthur’s question. Or of not rolling his eyes, crossing his arms and glaring. And he didn’t walk out of the shop altogether. He had to count every victory, no matter how small, when he went shopping with Arthur.

“It’s nice. It’s a pretty color. It’ll suit her just fine.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, as though he was mocking Merlin’s restraint. “‘ _It’ll suit her just fine_.’ Really, Merlin. Have you met Morgana? She’s particular about… everything. You don’t get something that’s just ‘alright’. You get her something better than that. Much better.’

“I know,” Merlin muttered. “What do I think of that scarf? I think it’s almost the same shade of red as the lipstick she always wears, and that’s the sort of pattern I see on all the fashionable girls walking down the street. I also think that it doesn’t matter what scarf or earrings or whatever you get her, because Morgana is gorgeous all by herself. You could give her a towel to wear to her next event, and she’d look amazing.”

“But-”

“But what?!” Merlin couldn’t keep that behind his teeth, but he did stop his voice from rising too loudly. “Arthur, we’ve been Christmas shopping all day long. I know you like to spoil Morgana with just about every pretty thing you can find, but I’m tired, I’m thirsty, and I want to sit down. If you want my advice, get her the scarf. I think she’ll like it. But I am going to go find some some coffee or something, alright?”

“Um. Okay.” Arthur’s eyes had gone puppy-dog wide, and he finally blinked, clutching the scarf to his chest like the silk would provide him armor against an attack.

Guilt immediately stabbed Merlin in the gut. “Don’t look like that,” he pleaded. “It’s not you, it’s all the shopping and the lights and all the stuff. I just need a break from it. I have my phone on me. Text me when you’re done, and I’ll come find you, okay?”

“Okay,” Arthur said. The deer in the headlights look was fading, and a small, sheepish smile had appeared on his face.

Merlin still felt guilty, though. He leaned in and gave Arthur a quick, apologetic kiss before winding his way around clothing racks and other shoppers on his quest for a quality coffee shop.

He found one and settled down with a mocha, content to sit somewhere out of the way and spend a few minutes people-watching. It was preferable to spending a sixth hour Christmas shopping, even if it was with Arthur. But even the fashionable Londoners couldn’t hold Merlin’s attention for long, because his mind kept turning his words to Arthur around and around in his head, worrying at it like a dog with a bone while he tried to figure out how he could have done that better. He should have said something like, ‘yes it’s beautiful, buy it and we can go get dinner’, or any number of other things that didn’t make him sound like a petulant child. Arthur didn’t deserve that. None of it was Arthur’s fault, after all.

This kind of extended Christmas shopping was new to Merlin. His excursions had always amounted to a few quick trips to a bookshop or to a shop that sold the kind of inexpensive costume jewelry that Freya liked. Ten quid here for Will and Freya, twenty quid there for his mum and Gaius. Some chocolates to sweeten things up. Nothing fancy.

He couldn’t afford fancy.

Merlin was familiar with the poor kid tropes people joked about on the telly-- handmade jumpers, fuzzy hats, and fudge that didn’t turn out quite right but tasted good in spite of it. That had been his life, after all. Growing up, Christmas had meant a cheap tree from the back of the lot with needles that fell off and refused to come up from the carpet no matter how often mum vacuumed. Decorations that were older than Merlin himself, except the one from his first Christmas. The old star on top of the tree that Merlin had always set in place after his dad lifted him up-- until Balinor died, and Merlin had to use a chair instead. Apple cider, and peppermint hot chocolate, and staying up far too late because he was too excited to sleep.

That was what Christmas meant to him-- time with his family and his friends, and not so much with the gifts, though he knew his parents had scrimped and saved to buy him the toys and the books his child’s heart desired

Christmas with the Pendragons was a different beast altogether. Merlin had had his first sight of it the year before, when he had walked into the mansion to find a richly decorated tree situated between two grand staircases, sparkling with thousands of lights, and reaching a ceiling nearly thirty feet tall.

And the tree was just the beginning. Between the food and the wine, the parade of gifts, and the music and overly shiny things everywhere, Merlin had found himself suffering from sensory overload and retreated to the guest bedroom that had been set aside just for him. He had never felt like so much of an outsider.

Nearly two hours passed before Arthur came and found him curled up in bed, half-asleep with a book in hand and the comforter pulled up to his ears like he was six years old. Arthur had laid down next to Merlin and wrapped his arms around him.

 _‘It is a bit much, isn’t it?’_ Arthur had asked. _‘This is the way Christmas has always been around here. I’m not sure who my father is trying to impress with all of it.’_

It certainly wasn’t Merlin. He and Arthur had been dating for six months by then, and Merlin was pretty sure Uther still didn’t know his name.

Their shared flat didn’t have nearly the grandiosity of Uther’s mansion, but the Christmas spirit was still in full force, with the tree dripping with ornaments, lights all about, stockings over the fireplace, and more holiday music than Merlin could stand. It was enough to make him want to pull the lights down on the twenty-third, having declared them to be ‘Solstice lights’ that had served their holiday function and could go away now.

But it made Arthur happy, and Arthur made Merlin happy. There would be some kind of cycle there if he ever bothered to look into it.

“How’s the coffee here?”

Merlin looked up sharply. Arthur stood on the opposite side of the little table, shopping bags in one hand and a coffee cup in the other. There was an uncertain look in his eyes.

“It’s fine,” Merlin said quickly. “I think the barista put half a tin of cocoa in it, though. It’s… chocolatey.”

“I don’t mind that,” Arthur said as he pulled the chair out and sat down. “Look, about earlier-”

“It was my fault,” Merlin interrupted. “That was all me being, well, me. You know, oversensitive to stupid stuff and prone to grumpiness. I shouldn’t have left like that. I’m sorry.”

“No, that was all on me. I knew you didn’t like all this,” he waved at the shopping mall around them with its too-bright lights, decorations, music, and people everywhere. “But I didn’t even think about it when I dragged you out of the house this morning and proceeded to take you to shop after shop. We should have gone home ages ago.”

“It’s alright.”

“No, it’s not alright. I know better than this. I should’ve asked if you were feeling okay, and I didn’t. That’s on me.” Arthur took his hand and squeezed it, and somehow that made half of Merlin’s tiredness fall away. “What say we get out of here, get some pizza on the way home and see if we can find something decent on TV?”

“I can live with that,” Merlin smiled. He bent to grab the bags that Arthur’s hadn’t collected in his first pass. He was tempted to toss the rest of his mocha so he could be extra close to Arthur until they left the mall, but Arthur had hardly sipped his own drink and wasn’t inclined to throw it away. Oh well. Perhaps there would be nothing to watch, and they would have to make their own fun…

“Glad to hear it,” Arthur’s grin could have lit a thousand Christmas trees by itself. “Now come on. Let’s go home.”

 

 


End file.
